Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to generation of custom business documentation, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for modular customization of intermediate business documentation generation.
Background of the Disclosure
It is known to provide business process software to allow for enterprises to streamline and expedite the performance of various business processes, such as generation of a purchase order, a receipt, or the like. This is particularly the case for businesses that engage in, for example, e-commerce. However, it is also typical that it is exceedingly difficult to deviate from the defined processes made available in such business process software. That is, custom business processes are very difficult to design and implement using known business process software for the enterprise, unless, of course, one is a highly skilled programmer.
This is generally the case because known business process systems provide a variety of algorithmically designed business processes, and any deviation from the provided business processes requires code customization. More particularly, custom business processes generally necessitate the writing and implementation, within the enterprise business software, of specific and unique code to implement the custom business process. Although this custom code may be of any known form, it generally must be written by one well versed in the writing of computer code, and it must readily interface with the business process software used by the enterprise.
A standard business process flow may be provided using, by way of non-limiting example, the SAP® business process system (the “SAP system”). In the SAP system, an “IDoc,” or intermediate document, is a standard data structure for electronic data interchange (EDI) between application programs written for the SAP business system, or between an SAP application and an external program. IDocs are used for asynchronous transactions in which each IDoc comprises a self-contained text file that can then be transmitted to the requesting workstation without connecting to the central database.
In the SAP “standard flow”, modification to, or to the treatment of, an IDoc, i.e., modification to the text of an IDoc or the process to which it is subject from standard processes, necessitates code customization. That is, a custom business process requires expert custom coding to create the custom process within the SAP standard flow. This is necessary for each instance of a custom process—meaning that, even if a similar customization has been provided in a different standard process flow, the coding must be performed anew each time the custom process must be inserted to a different standard process flow.
Therefore, the need exists for a more suitable system and method for providing a custom documentation-based business process within known standard flow business process systems, without need of code customization to provide the custom business process in each case.